Key holder hook



Jan. 31, 1961 F. J. AITCHISON KEY HOLDER HOOK Filed June 16, 1959INVENTOR Frederick J. Aii'chiaon TTORNEY Uited States Patent KEY HOLDERHOOK Frederick J. Aitchison, Water-town, Conm, asign'or to S'covillManufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn.,

a: corporation of. Connecticut.

Filed June 16,.1959,.Ser. No. 820,648

2 Claims. (Cl. 70-458) This invention relates to key hooks or loops andparticularly to hooks that are adapted to be removably fitted into theholders of key cases containing a plurality of key hooks. Such a keyhook is usually constructed in the form of a pear-shaped loop made fromwire or flat stock and having a head on one end which is adapted to beremovably interfitted into a holder member forming a part of the keycase.

The opposite end of the hook is usually shorter than the headed end andis formed with a hook or clasp of some form for embracing the shank ofthe arm adjacent the headed end of the hook a short distance from saidhead. One of the faults of such a hook was that if any excessive strainwere placed on the hook due to a pulling force on the key, the free endof the hook could be pulled way from the headed end to such an extentthat the hook would be distorted and rendered ineffective as a suitablekey retainer.

One object of my invention is to provide headed ends on the free ends ofeach arm of a character wherein the headed ends can be locked together,one within the other, to form in efiect a single head and securely heldwithin the holder member of a key case.

Another object is to provide a key hook with a head of the abovecharacter that can be formed by a simple bending operation to reduce thecost of manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be obvious from thefollowing description and the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a key hook embodying my invention andshowing the headed ends in locked position;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the headed ends partially released;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the headed ends released and sprungapart ready to receive a key;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the key hook assembled into a key containershown in cross-section; and

Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the key container taken along the line 5-5of Fig. 4 showing the key hook in position to be removed or assembled.

In the drawing, the numeral designates generally a key loop or hookwhich is shown as made from a strip of flat sheet metal spring stock andconsists of a pair of diverging arms 11 and 12, hereinafter referred toas the first and second arms for the sake of convenience. The arms 11and 12 are joined together by a connecting end loop 13 and at theiropposite ends terminate in relatively short straight shanks 14 and 15.The lower or first arm 11 is formed with a relatively large hollowcylindrical head 16 having its axis perpendicular to the longitudinalaxis of its respective supporting arm. The length of the head 16 ispreferably somewhat greater than the width of the supporting arm 11 andthe terminal edge 17 is spaced a sufficient distance from the arm shank14 so as to provide a slot 18 extending across said shank.

The opposite or second arm 12 terminates at its shank 2,969,668 PatentedJan. 31, 1961 end 15 in a smaller hollow cylindrical head 19, the

12 and substantially equal to the length of the larger head 16. Theexternal diameter of the smaller head 19, however, is such so asto-permit it to have a free telescopic fit endwise into the largerhead16 of the first arm as best seen in Fig. 2.

In the normal locked position of the key hook, the heads 16 and 19 willbe telescopically fitted as shown in Fig. 1 and by reason of theinherent springness of the hooks,,said heads will be automaticallycentralized relative toeach other.

In order to assembly a key to the hook, opposing forces as indicated bythe arrows in Fig. 2., must be applied to diametrically opposite edgesof the first and second arms 11 and 12 to move the smaller head 19' toone side or the other of the larger head 16 so that the ends of saidheads will clear each other whereupon the arms 11 and 12 will springapart to the position shown in Fig. 3. In this position, the heads 16and 19 will be spaced far enough apart and one above the other to permitthe eye of a key head to be slipped over the smaller head 16 and ontothe key hooka key K being shown in phantom in Fig. 3. When the key K isthus assembled, the cylindrical heads 16 and 19 may then be aligned andtelescoped into each other with the shank 14 of the second arm 12slipping edgewise into the slot 18. As pointed out above, the inherentspring tension of the material from which the hooks are made willautomatically complete the assembled telescopic action of the heads 16and 19.

Fig. 5 shows the manner in which any key hook may be assembled to aconventional key case, a portion only being shown, which case may belike the one described in the Duell Patent 2,679,154. Such a case mayconsist of a leather backing 20 and a key hook retainer 21. The retainer21 usually consists of a flat plate 22 secured to the leather back 20 byrivets. The plate 22 is formed at one end with a rolled barrel portion23 in which is provided a series of transverse slots 24 wide enough tofreely receive the transverse width of the key hook arms 11 and 12. Theslots 24 intercept enlarged openings 25 located substantially at thepoint where the barrel portion 23 connects to the flat plate 24 andwhich openings 25 are large enough to permit the larger head 16 of thekey hook to be inserted and removed therethrough.

To assemble the key hook into a container of the type illustrated inFig. 5, it is only necessary to bend the upper free end of the leatherbacking 20 down to the dotted line position whereupon the head of thekey hook may be inserted through the opening 25' from the undersidethereof, said hook and its companion key normally lying across the topof the flat plate 22 and the leather backing closing up the opening 25.

It is to be noted from Fig. 4 that one of the advantages of my key loopconstruction is that if any excessive force is applied to the key topull the hook out of the barrel portion of the retainer, it will onlytend to cause the larger head portion 16 to close about the interiorsmaller head portion 19 and increase the locking effect of the headportions within each other as well as with said barrel portion of thekey container.

While only one form of the invention is shown and described herein, itwill be understood that changes and modifications may be made within thespirit and scope of the following claims.

What I claim:

1. A key hook of flat sheet metal spring material comprising first andsecond arms joined together by a connecting loop, one end of the firstarm formed with a hollow cylindrical head portion having open ends withits axis prependicular to the axis of said first arm, said head portionhaving a transverse slot adjacent said first arm, and the opposite orsecond arm having a cylindrical head portion also with its axisperpendicular to the axis of its support arm, said second cylindricalhead of smaller diameter than the head on the first arm adapted to beslipped endwise to fit first cylindrical head whereby the arm of saidsecond head is disposed in said slot and said second head is held therein place against movement parallel to said arms.

2. A key hook of spring material comprising diverging arms ofsubstantially equal length and joined together by a connecting loop, thefree ends of said arms having cylindrically shaped headed portions widerthan .said 7 arms and with their axes perpendicular to the axes of theirrespective supporting arms, one head being of larger 15 diameter thanthe other, being open at both ends and having a transverse slot adjacentthe arm, whereby the smaller head can telescope into the larger headwith the arm carrying such smaller head entering said slot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNllTED STATES PATENTS35,150 Frazer May 6, 1862 2,197,217 Geller Apr. 16, 1940 2,414,041 HawesJan. 7, 1947 2,685,193 Marymont Aug. 3, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 358,585Germany Sept. 12, 1922

